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Aspects of Social Life Revealed in Beowulf. a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty Ments for T of Arte

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Aspects of Social Life Revealed in Beowulf. A thesis submitted to the faculty of o:f' ments for t of Arte. May 1910. Bibliography. An English Kiacellany. - Article by F. B. Gummere on The Sister's Son. Anglia. v. 29 p. 417 ff. Die Vergnuegungen der Angelea.chaen. Moritz Heyne:- (1) Ueber Lage und Construction der Halle Heorot. (2) Edition of Beowulf. Stopford A. Brooke:- The History of Early English 0 Li tera"ture. -~ Manners and during the Walter Morrie Epic. and Romance. Francie B. GuTimlere:- (lt Germanic Origins. (2) The Oldest English Epic. Transactions of American Philological Association. v. 13. Appendix pp. XXI ff. Article by F. A. March on The World of Beowulf. Ada Broch: - Die Stellung der Frau in der Angel­ saechsischen Poesie. Contents. Introduction. Claes of people portrayed. Prominence of social life. The hall. Description. Feasting. Gift-giving. Flyting. Songs of ecop. Formality. Duration of festivities. Out-of-door arr.uRements. Horses - Racing. HEiwking. Swimming. Dress. Fondness for treasure. Ornamentation of dwellings. ft ft drinking cups • ..... - - - Ornamentation of armor • .. " person. Gift-giving. Treasure valuedfor age. Family relations. Husband and wife. Uncle and nephew. Father and son. Mother and son. Father and daughter. Mother and daughter. Sister and brothers. Brothers. Claims of kinship. Friendship. Individual. Communal. Comitatus. Leader and followers. King and subjects. Reception of strangers. Summary. -1- Aspects of Social Life Revealed in Beowulf. The men portrayed in the poem Beowulf were primarily warriors. The terms for man and warrior are inter-changeable and very numerous: secg, wiga, haeled-, ~' etc. But the interbellum life was distinctly social, as it well might be in the case of the claee here­ in presented to the notice. lone of theee men seem to have been troubled with questions as to the source of their livelihood. Indeed, how could they be? The king had property in abundance and he bestowed it liberally upon hia retainers. The only two households which we enter are royal, and no one beneath a thane ie consider­ ed worthy of epic mention. There is not even a whisper of common people, unless we infer what we can from the title,S' applied sparingly to the king: folcea hyrde, (1), four times; rrcee hyrde (2), twice; hringa hyrda (3) and f'raetvm hyrde, (4) each once. God is once called wuldree hyrde (r); Grendel ie fyrena hyrde (*) only once. But merely the title, not the shepherd himself, appears (1). 611, 1833, 1850, 2982. (2). 2028, 3081. (3). 2246. (4). 3134. (T-). 932. ($). 751. -2- and we are likely to feel that he was as non-existent as "The ~ate Mr. Null" or •Marjorie Daw.• For all we know, these common people, eo entirely beneath the notice of the gleeman and hie audience, may have led a life very different from that which this paper will con­ sider. But there is so much to be said of the life which we oa.n see that it seems :futile to conjecture on the unseen. Thie social life centered in the festivity in the hall, a daily occurrence. (3).Wlt.i/e. we see only king's households, yet we know that much the same manner of life was observed in the homes of the earls, tho naturally on a less pretentious scale. Aside from the fine old sword of Hrethel, Hygelac presents Beowulf seven thousand pieces, a house, and a prince's seat, - bold ond brego - stol. (1). Bold ia also used of Heorot (2); of Hygelac'a hall (3~, the very scene of the presentation to Beowulf; and of Beo\vulf's home, the gift-seat of the Geats, when he has become king (4). All this implies that Beowulf was expected while he was still pr~"ce, not king, to give gifts and use a hall in a way similar to the ruler. (3). 88. (1) 2197. (2) 998. (3, 1926 (4) 2327. -3- And it is fair to assume that the other nobles did the same. It would seem that much time was spent in the hall, for it is variously named the meeting plaoe of the people, f2!.2.-stede (5); reception room, 1 eB't-~ (6); place of gifts, gif-heall (7); drinking hall , win-~ (8), etc. Hrothgar's hall, Heorot, tho said to be greater than the children of men had ever heard of {9), can pro­ bably serve as a fair example of the ~-raced. The respects wherein it differed from the usual hall were doubtless size and richness, not general arrangement or purpose. Heyne seems to have said the last word on the subjec~ (1), so that a partial transcript of his des­ cription will suffice here. The hall, built of wood, was one large room, oblong in shape, with glassless windows in or near the roof, and a door at each end. In the center rose a single supporting column nea.r which­ at least in Heorot - was the .sif_-etol. Thie had room for the king, the queen, and the king's nephew. At the king's feet sat the thyle, "a combination of master of ( 5) 76. (8) 994 I( (7) 838 (8) 698 (9) 69 f. (1) ~eber Lage und Construction der Halle Heorot. -- -4- the revele, orator, poet laureate and jeeter" (2). Opposite the throne was a bench of honor, to be occupied by the king's sons and royal guests (3). Around three walls (4) were benches where the retainers sat during the feasting and merrymaking. No mention is made of tables in connection with Heorot, but Hygelac•s and Heremod'e retainers are referred to ae table-companions, beod­ geneatas (1). Tables would not have been especially use­ 1 ful during the drinking if', as Wright says (2 ), the cups were so formed as not to stand upright. And drinking seems to have had the chief place in the banquet; there is not one reference to any sort of food, tho several liquors are in constant evidence. Nor is any mention made of a hearth in Heorot. Hrothgar's retainers are not even called hearth-companions, heorct~gen~atas, as are BygelafA­ (t) and Beowulf's (4°). We can hardly conclude from this fact, however, that the Danes were without fire in their halls, while the Geate made themselves comfortable! The decorations of the room will be mentioned later (5). Outside the hall were benches where strangers could sit While they awaited audience with the King. The thot (2) Gummere: Germanic Origins. P• 107. (3). See 11.1189 ff. (4) Heyne. p. 49. (1) 343, 1714. (2') Domestic Manners. p.6. (3') 261, 1581 (4') 2181,2419,3181. (5) See pp. l'f herein. • -5- comes irresistibly that these ea.me benches would have afforded excellent viewpoints for spectators of wrest­ ling matches or discus-throwing or other forms of amuse­ ment which we expect to find-but do not - as in the Odyssey (1 ). Of the royal abode aside from Reorot we see but little. There ie the bryd-!?.!!!:, which was the queen's bower and perhaps also contained the king's sleeping apartment (2). Mention is made, too, of a separate house where Beowulf and his men were lodged their second night in Daneland (3). Thie may have been the usual quarters for guests. If the treasure was not kept in the hall, it was probably in a separate building under special guard (4). The other domestic buildings for provisions, for preparation of food, for shelter of animals (I), with the watch tower on the shore (I), complete the royal burg. But we .return to the hall, the center of the daily social life. Aside from the distribution of treasure, discussed elsewhere (2), there was much feast­ ing and drinking. So prominent a place did this latter feature occupy that the path to the hall was ~-stig (3~ (1) Odyssey IV. 626 f; VIII, 104 ff. 1 I{) ( 2) 66.S-!lf. (3) 1300 ff. ( 4 ) Heyne p. 53 • ( l') Heyne pp. 47, 43 (2~ See pp. 2/ ff. herein. {3') 925. - -6- t I the plain on which it stood wae medo-wang ( 4), and the hall itself was --medo-heal (5), --medo-a"i~ (8), medu-eeld---- (7), beor-~ (8); win-a8h (9), win-reced (10), !!!!!.­ sale (11), It is probably only by accident that it was not spoken of also as ealo~reced, as ale was one of the usual drinks. The seats are ~-~ (12), as well as medu-benc {13). These different liquors seem to have been served indiscriminately, for in the beor-eele (14), ecir ~d (15), (a sort of beer) is poured into ealo­ waege (1). Ale-terror, ealu-scerwen (2) seizes the Danes outside the hall when they hear the noise of mead-benches (3) falling in the wine-hall (4). The warriors of Hrothgar have often, drunken with beer - beore druncne(5) boasted over their ale cups (6) that they would await Grendel in the beer hall (7), only to find the meai hall (8) stained with blood the next morning. Wiglaf remembers the pledges made in the beer hall (9) by drinkers of mead (10). Wea~htheow passes the mead cup (11) at the beer drinking (12). Mead is mentioned eighteen times; beer, ten; wine, nine; ala, seven; and wared and lict" each once. The particular beverage mentioned in any (14) 492 (&) 484 (4) 1644 (15) 495 (~) 2636 (5) 484,639 ( 1) 494 ( 10') 2634 (6) 69 ( 2 )· 770 ( ll!) 625 (7) 3066 (3) 777 (121 618. (8) 482,492,1095,2636. (9) 655 (4') 772 (10) 715,994 (B') 480 (11) 696,772,2457.
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